


We´ll figure it out

by readeverystory



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, just fluff, nothing else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23498395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readeverystory/pseuds/readeverystory
Summary: When your King and Queen of Elfheim, there are always things that need figuring out. But at least we have each other.
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 7
Kudos: 90





	We´ll figure it out

**Author's Note:**

> Life was a little ridiculous lately, but thanks to quarantine I finally have time to read and just finished Queen of Nothing. Which was so awesome. So, of course, I had to write something. Just a little fluffy one-shot to get my feelings out.

Cardan POV  
Blinking, I opened my eyes. At first, I wasn´t sure what had woken me up, the way the light fell into the room told me that it was too early to get up. Sighing, I stretched out my hand and touched the bare mattress. Jude wasn´t in bed anymore. Confused, I sat up. People didn´t expect it, but I was usually the one to wake up first. I was the one who got up early, got dressed and dealt with any urgent business that had come up while we had been sleeping. Jude was the one who liked to sleep in and stay up late, dealing with business that couldn´t wait until the next day. Her getting up before me was highly unusual.   
I rubbed my eyes when I suddenly heard noises coming from the floor next to the bed.   
“Jude?” I asked and looked over. There she was, still in her nightgown, her knees on the stone floor, her face bent over her chamber pot.   
“Sweetheart?” I asked a pet name that was reserved for our private rooms. For those special and rare moments, when we were completely alone. “Is everything alright?”   
My question was answered by horrible gagging sounds coming from her. Alarmed, I threw the blanket back and crouched down next to her.   
“Hey, what´s wrong?” I asked.   
“Nothing”, she said and looked at me, “I´m fine. Just a little sick. Don´t worry.”   
I didn´t buy it. I wasn´t able to lie, but I had gotten pretty good at detecting her lies by now. She wasn´t fine; she wasn´t “just a little sick”, she felt awful. I was proven right just one second later when she turned to the chamber pot again and started puking her heart out. Fairies don´t get sick unless we are poisoned, so seeing Jude like this, pale and vomiting, starkly reminded me of her mortality and how utterly useless I was sometimes. I had no idea what to do when it came to mortal sickness. No idea what was required, no idea how to treat it.   
“Is there anything I can get you?” I asked helplessly and started rubbing her back in small circles, but Jude waved her hand dismissively.   
“I´ll be fine. It´s probably just something bad I ate at Vivi´s yesterday. It´ll pass”, she said, but despite her chipper words, I could hear the exhaustion in her voice, and I knew how tired she was when she leaned her head against my shoulder.   
This was her form of a pet name. This side of Jude, the one that was exhausted, that was tired and didn´t know what to do was reserved for me and me alone. It was her way of showing her love.   
“Okay”, I said and started stroking her hair. “Do you think you can get back to bed? It´s still early; maybe we can steal a few hours for ourselves.”   
Sighing, she closed her eyes. “I´d like that. But first, I need to brush my teeth.” 

Jude POV  
I must have fallen asleep again, because the next time I woke up, Cardan was in the middle of dressing himself.   
“What time is it?” I asked, my voice still heavy with sleep.   
Cardan shrugged. “Council meeting starts in half an hour.”   
“What?” I asked alarmed. “Why didn´t you wake me up? I´m going to be late.”   
I was about to step out of bed when Cardan pushed me back softly but with a firm grip on my arm.   
“No”, he said, “you´re not coming. You´re sick, and you need to rest.”   
“But”, I was about to object, when Cardan interrupted me.   
“No, buts. I already excused you. You´ll stay here and rest.”   
“But”, I tried once again.   
Cardan rolled his eyes at me and said earnestly: “Don´t be stubborn. I´ll manage one day without you. I promise.”   
Then, suddenly, he smiled his crooked smile. “It´ll be almost impossible, of course, but I´ll manage.”   
Now, it was my turn to roll my eyes. “Fine. But promise me you won´t start a war with anyone.”   
He grinned and shrugged. “You never know, we haven´t had one of those in a while.”   
I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, but he managed to close the door behind him before it could hit him—what a dickhead. Sometimes I really didn´t know why I loved him.   
I sighed and stretched out on the bed again. But maybe he was right about one thing, maybe having a break for one day wasn´t the worst idea.   
I dozed off for another hour or so, getting some much-needed rest before I asked for a tray with breakfast. I popped some grapes in my mouth and ate a little bit of bread with butter and jam. I felt great, completely relaxed and not at all sick anymore. Not until I went to change, and I spotted something horrible.   
Faerie women don´t have the same cycle as mortal women do, the idea of having a period, of bleeding every month, is completely foreign to them, so is the idea of tampons and other hygiene products, which is why, every once in a while, Taryn and I go to the mortal realm to buy some for us. It is one of the few reasons why I still visit the mortal world, other than visiting Vivi and Heather, of course. The last trip I made was over a month ago. A month in which I hadn´t even opened the tampon box.   
“Fand?” I called, my voice sounded weird in my own ears.  
“Yes, Mylady?” she asked from the other room.   
“Can you get the king for me?” I asked with a calm I didn´t possess.   
“But, Mylady”, Fand seemed hesitant, “he is still with the Council. Are you sure…?”   
“Screw the Council”, I said, “I need him. Now!”   
Fand blinked at me in surprise. “Of course, Your Majesty.” 

Cardan POV  
Council meetings never stopped to bore me. I liked being king; by now, I even liked the politics side of it. But Council meetings… not so much. It was just always the same exhausting pattern. Somewhere in the land was a minor issue, probably one of the low Courts acting up ever so slightly. The counsellors would present ideas for solutions, which they would then fight over relentlessly, only to boost their ego and show their own importance and then we would turn to the next issue to start the cycle anew. It was dull and boring, and the only one that made these meetings bearable was Jude. Not only was she able to stop the counsellors from fighting without insulting them, but because her mere presence just lifted everyone´s spirits. Or at least she lifted mine.   
So, that is why my first reaction when Fand stepped into the throne room was delight. My second, however, was horror. Unlike me, Jude regarded the Council meetings to be of utmost importance. She would never interrupt them unless something urgent had come up.   
“Fand?” I asked and sat up on my throne. “Is everything alright?”  
The knight bowed her head in my direction. “The Queen has asked me to fetch you, Your Majesty.”   
“In the middle of a Council meeting?”, Randalin asked astonished and took the words out of my mouth. He knew as well as I did that was very unusual for Jude.   
Fand nodded. “She´s asking for you immediately.”   
Fand looked at me with an expression that said: You better come now.   
I nodded at her and stood up. Shaking back the sleeves of my gown, I turned to the Council. “Well, my friends, I think we are done for the day.”   
“But”, Randalin started, clearly insulted at being so rudely dismissed.   
However, instead of answering, I simply waved at him.   
“All this can wait until tomorrow. See you then”, I said and followed Fand out of the room.   
Once we were out of earshot, I turned to the knight. “What happened?”   
But she only shrugged. “I don´t know. She was enjoying her day off and then all of a sudden, she seemed very… disturbed.”   
Frowning I quickened my pace. 

Jude POV  
It was just a few minutes after I sent Fand away when I heard someone say: “Jude? Sweetheart?”.   
I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, my heart stumbled in my chest, unsure of whether it should be relieved or scared.   
“I´m back here”, I heard myself say. I still hadn´t moved from my spot. I was unable to do so, unable to do anything but stare at the unopened tampon box.   
I heard some movement from the other, and suddenly Cardan was next to me, touching my arm softly. His warm hand on my bare skin sent shivers down my spine, and I felt my muscles and my mind relax slowly. Cardan was here. Everything was going to be okay.   
“Sweetheart, what´s wrong?”, he whispered and threw back a strain of my hair. “Are you hurt?”   
I shook my head and turned to him.   
“No, I´m fine. It´s just”, I sighed and looked up to him. “I´m pregnant, Cardan.”   
Emotions started racing each other behind his eyes. Disbelief, surprise, wonder and suddenly one emotion I hadn´t expected from him at all: joy.   
“Are you”, he swallowed, “are you sure?”   
“Yes”, I said, “I´m sure.”   
“But that´s wonderful. That is so, so wonderful”, he cried and reached out to me. Then he stopped once he saw my expression. “Isn´t it?”  
“I-“, I said helplessly. “I´m not sure, Cardan. A child in the High Court? This place is dangerous for adults, let alone for children. Especially for children who are potential heirs to the throne. And what if I´m a bad mother. What if I mess everything up? I didn´t have the happiest childhood. What if I don´t know how to give it to a child? What if the child turns out like me? What if…?”   
I was about to rant on and on, but suddenly Cardan started laughing. I stared at him furiously. How could he think this was funny? What on earth was there to laugh about? This was serious. But Cardan just kept on laughing, his tail wagging behind him like that of a happy dog.   
“What?” I asked finally and crossed my arms.   
“I´m sorry”, he said, but didn´t really look the part. “It´s just that you will never be a bad mother, Jude. What a ridiculous thing to worry about.”   
“Oh, really?” I asked and raised my eyebrows.   
“Yes, of course, Sweetheart. Just look at Oak. He loves you so much. And look at your sisters. They turn to you with every problem they have. You are the most loving person I know, Jude. You could never be a bad mother, and if the child turns out like you, then that is the best thing this world could ask for.”   
I looked up to him and let my arms think. “Do you really think so?”   
“Yes, Jude, I do. Of course, I do. And as for the dangers, we´ll figure it out. Just how we´ve figured everything else out.”   
“Okay”, I sighed. “You´re right. Of course, you are.”


End file.
